One of the recent other threads got me thinking about this.

G1 was pretty good at giving giant alien robots unique personalities. In fact some people credit part of the success of the brand being the Tech Specs, turning transforming trucks and cars into real characters you could take an interest in. The G1 cartoon was pretty good at giving their characters personalities too, such as Beachcomber being a hippy, Megatron believing in his cause more than just being a megalomaniac ("the Decepticon cause supersedes personal vengeance") and Rodimus Prime living in his predecessors shadow. Part of the reason I didn't really get into The Unicron Wars trilogy was that most characters were either just soldiers following orders or were quite one-dimensional.

But what G1 characters have been made better?

These are the ones that spring to mind:

Swindle: A personal favorite! G1 Swindle was arguable the most spotlighted of the Combiner characters, having a whole episode based around him selling off his comrades parts, and even defying Galvatron by not handing over Metroplex's Transforming Cog unless Galv offered to pay more than the Autobots.
However Animated Swindle was awesome! Everything from the way he spoke to the way he acted to the fact he even had a little tie just screamed that he was interplanetary munitions dealer with the pater and oil pump of a used car salesman. Fred Willard really brought the character to life!


Ratchet: Ratchtet was a pretty friendly and light hearted bot in the G1 cartoon (much like most of the others) who occasionally got a bit grumpy with his patients or if someone like Sparkplug challenged his medical prowess.
In Animated, Ratchet got made a grumpy doctor who deep down still had a spark of gold. This characterization seemed to just fit him so well! Subsequently the Ratchet that has shown up in TFPrime, RID and even the G1(ish) IDW have all taken on this persona.


Thundercracker: In the G1 cartoon he never really showed his conflicted nature regarding the war that the tech-spec discussed. The most was he was willing to let Skyfire destroy a weapon to get Starscream into trouble.
In IDW we got to see Thundercracker betray the Decepticons as he couldn't rationalize murdering millions of humans in a cowardly bomb strike just to win a battle. This has lead him to now be allied with a human (and dog) as his best friends. I liked Thundercracker a bit more when he was still a bit of a sod, like refusing Bumblebee's offer to join him, but still it has made him a much more interesting character.

Sunstorm: He only appeared in one episode right at the start of the G1 cartoon and his tech spec only lists his abilities.
In Dreamwave, Sunstorm became what can only be called a superpowered religious zealot who believed he was on a divine mission and all that stood in the way of his holy crusade must be destroyed for the greater good. It was a very cool story arc and remains some of my favorite DW comics!


Ravage: Had a cool tech spec and was pretty damn cool in the cartoon, but only spoke/radioed once and often got beaten by mere humans (his weakness ironically is stacks of VHS tapes).
In Beast Wars, where he was pretty much the same character, just waaay in the future-slash-past. But you got to see him hand pretty much any Predacon or Maximal he came across their skid plates, talked a lot and in particular his discussed his loyalty to G1 Megatron, and used his cassette mode to take control of a vehicle. Yeah, he was bipedal now and to be honest the fact he lacked a quadruped mode irked me somewhat, but it was a very cool outing for him and expanded the on-screen character into something more than just a growling animal.


Ratbat: In the G1 cartoon he mainly operated as a spy and his tech spec talked about him being a fuel scout. Not particularly rounded out.
In the Marvel comics, Ratbat got made a leader, who operated primarily from the basis of gauging the gain-loss in energon of potential encounters. He was able to put constrictions on Shockwave and even ordered Trypticon about! This was built on in the Dreamwave comics by him leading his own faction of Ultracons and in IDW being a senator who once again (briefly) rose to lead the Decepticons in the aftermath of the Civil War. Resulted in some great toys too!


Metroplex: In the G1 cartoon he existed primarily it seemed to battle Trypticon and defeat him, as well as acting as the Autobots main base of operations on Earth. His tech spec talks about his personality briefly but mainly discusses his abilities, which considering the toy was understandable.
In IDW Metroplex is a Titan and has had an entire mythos based around him and his compatriots, the Titans becoming a huge part of the IDW lore! No Six-Gun or Slammer which is disappointing but at least Scamper got an outing in a comic and the toy.


So which G1 characters do you think have been improved upon (characterizations - not toys) in either the comics or other cartoon series/universes?



Notes:
*Honorable mentions go to TFPrime's Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus, though i don't think they are particularly better. I also loved Animated Blurr using his super speed I'll leave IDW's Swerve for someone else to discuss
*If I was going to list characters that have been made worse I'd site RID Grimlock, Energon Ironhide and Armada Sideswipe to name just a few.